Note:
The original etching depicts a defecating dog complete with feces. This etching has been altered by hand to remove the feces and to make the dog appear to be merely sitting.
In one of the parables of the New Testament, a Samaritan gives succor to a man he finds by the wayside who has been attacked and beaten by robbers. Here, Rembrandt, with a gentle touch, illustrates the end of the parable: two men arrive at an inn. One servant is shown lifting the wounded man while the other servant is holding the horse. The Samaritan is depicted at the top of the stairs paying the innkeeper for the care and well-being of the injured soul.
Rembrandt used doorways in his art to mark a turning point in the story.
Here, the wounded man being carried to the entrance of an inn where he will be tended, illustrates the key roles that the doorway plays in Rembrandt’s art, either between two states of the drama or two different states of existence. The doorway may be seen as the visual equivalent of a new chapter heading.
The is one of two etchings in which Rembrandt reproduced his own paintings (the other is Christ Before Pilate).
Literature: B. 90; H. 101; BB. 33-A.
Loc: G.F.R. pp2533a